Polish authorities have reported a rise in attempted illegal crossings from Belarus amid efforts to boost border security with the help of European Union funds.
Poland has repeatedly accused Belarus of deliberately facilitating migrant crossings in an attempt to destabilize the region—a claim Belarus denies.
Jacek Dobrzyński, a spokesman for Poland’s Interior Ministry, said in a statement published on Saturday on X that two days earlier, a group of 22 people breached the barrier on the Polish-Belarusian border.
The crossing attempt was “quickly and effectively thwarted,” he wrote, adding that several other people remained on the Belarusian side, throwing rocks at Polish patrols and filming videos.
“These videos may be used for propaganda, suggesting that our border is easy to overcome,” Dobrzyński said.
The border is guarded by a 5.5-meter steel fence, built in 2022, and supplemented by an electronic surveillance system that includes cameras and drones.
According to Dobrzyński, “any attempts to cross the border illegally are immediately detected” by electronic monitoring.
He added: “There is no crossing. The Polish border is tight. Thousands of soldiers, border guards and police officers monitor every meter of it around the clock.”
In a separate X post published on Saturday, Poland’s interior minister, Tomasz Siemoniak, said that about 11,000 personnel from the police, border guards and army are stationed along the Belarusian border.
Siemoniak also emphasized the role of an exclusion zone that restricts civilian access near the border on the Polish side and allows for “more effective operational action against human smuggling gangs.”
The zone was introduced in June 2024 and has since been extended and expanded several times. It prohibits access to a 200-meter-wide strip along the border, with wider restrictions—up to four kilometers—in ecologically sensitive areas such as nature reserves.
Using migrants as a ‘weapon’
“We have the support of the European Commission, which called this what it is: the instrumentalization of migrants and their use as a weapon” by Belarus, an ally of Moscow, Siemoniak said.
He added that Brussels has allocated €52 million to support Poland’s border enforcement efforts.
Centrist Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Friday that Poland would soon launch an international campaign targeting seven countries from which most migrants attempting to cross the border originate. “Our message will be simple: the Polish border is sealed,” Tusk said.
Additionally, a new regulation restricting the right to apply for international protection at the border came into force on March 27. The temporary restriction will be in effect for 60 days, with the possibility of a further 60-day extension if approved by Poland’s parliament.
Critics and humanitarian groups have slammed both the suspension of the right to seek asylum and pushbacks by Polish border guards, arguing that these grossly violate human rights.
Nevertheless, amid concern that migration is fueling the rise of the far-right in Europe, top politicians in Brussels have given the green light for Poland’s tough stance.
